


Solo Act

by AtreyuAuryn



Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Gen, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, trigger warnings for:, who wants to get sad today
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26071396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtreyuAuryn/pseuds/AtreyuAuryn
Summary: A horrible accident leaves Blues.EXE despondent and suicidal. Can Rockman and Netto reach him before it's too late?
Kudos: 12





	Solo Act

_When the cold of Winter comes_

_Starless night will cover day_

_In the veiling of the sun_

_We will walk in bitter rain_

_But in dreams (But in dreams…)_

_I can hear your name_

_And in dreams (And in dreams…)_

_We will meet again._

The figure studied the blade glowing vibrantly on his arm, its pale light casting shadows in the darkness surrounding him. He could see through the red haze of the sword down to his feet, but although his eyes were on the blade, his mind was focused on something else. It swarmed with broken thoughts, never completing themselves, all running together in an endless circle.

It was an accident…There was nothing anyone could have done… he was dead when they got there… an accident… he was dead…accident…dead…

The words pulsed through his mind, getting louder with every cycle. _Accident… dead… accident… **he was** **dead…**_

He raised the blade suddenly, banishing the voices with the motion. It burned like a flame from his forearm. He watched the flame… and smiled. With another quick motion he swung it out to his side and held it prone for a moment, reflecting on what he was about to do. He shut off his ability to see his surroundings and the burning sword. For another moment he was still; then he swung the blade inward, aimed straight for his chest.

“NO!” 

Something heavy slammed into his back and he fell forward. A blue hand smacked his own, knocking the blade away from his body as he hit the ground. Before he could move or even protest the hand slammed down on his sword arm, preventing it from moving. Another hand was wrapped tightly around his waist. He stared at the blade dully, his mind not registering what was happening.

“Don’t do it, Blues!” the voice cried again. “Don’t delete yourself!”

Blues.EXE withdrew the blade and replaced it with his normal hand. He wanted to hurt Rockman.EXE, not delete him.

“Get off!” he yelled, swinging his free hand up to strike the Navi sitting on his back. “Stay out of this, Rockman!”

His blow connected, and Rockman.EXE tumbled off his back with a grunt. Blues stood up and glared at his attacker. “Stay out of this, Rockman,” he said again, more calmly this time.

Rockman jumped to his feet. “We won’t let you do this, Blues!”

“It’s none of your affair,” Blues turned his back on Rockman. “You and Hikari stay out of it!”

“Netto-kun doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Rockman said quietly. “I’m the one who wanted to talk to you. I’m the only one who knows that you’re trying to kill yourself, Blues.”

“I’m a Navi!” Blues snarled. “Navis don’t die, they get deleted! Unlike… unlike…” Blues cut himself off, choking on his next words.

“Unlike Enzan?” Rockman took a hesitant step forward. “Blues, what happened was not your fault.”

“He’s dead, Rockman!” Blues shouted, aware of his voice shaking. “He’s dead and I couldn’t save him. He…” Blues fell to his knees as it all overcame him.

“He what, Blues?” Rockman approached him and knelt beside him. “It was an accident. There was nothing you could have done.”

“I was there, Rockman,” Blues whispered, his large hands covering his face. “My PET was on the ground as he lay there, bleeding to death. I was only a few feet away, yet I could have been miles for all the help I was. I was helpless as he died, Rockman. I couldn’t save him.”

#

It was around lunchtime when Netto Hikari first heard the rumors. They spoke of anything from exploding buses to the return of World Three. He couldn’t eat his lunch, worrying about what was happening outside his school.

“Netto-kun, what’s going on?” Rockman asked softly, his voice sounding worried.

“I don’t know, Rockman,” Netto replied. “But I think it’s bad.”

“Netto!” Meiru cried, running up to him. “Ms. Mariko is looking for you.” She stopped in front of Netto, looking worried. “I think it’s important.”

Netto held his PET up so he could exchange looks with Rockman. “All right, Meiru-chan. We’re going.”

Meiru nodded. “She’s in the classroom.”

“I hope everything’s all right,” Roll.EXE spoke up from Meiru’s PET.

Netto nodded his thanks and walked off toward the classroom. “What do you think it is, Rockman?”

Rockman could see that Netto was tense. “I don’t know,” he replied. “But we should relax until we get there. It could be anything.”

“Yeah,” Netto sighed. Sometimes he wished he could be as calm as Rockman in situations like this. He paused before the door of the classroom and peered in. “Ms. Mariko?”

“Oh!” Ms. Mariko jumped. “Come in.”

Netto took one look at her face and knew something was terribly wrong. “Ms. Mariko, you’ve been crying!”

“Yes,” Mariko-sensei nodded. “Hikari-san—”

 _She hardly ever calls me Hikari_ , Netto thought in a blind panic.

“—there’s been an accident. One of the downtown buses crashed into a private car, and everyone involved was killed.”

“Crashed?” Netto gasped. “But how? They’re run by a centralized compu—”

“Ms. Mariko,” Rockman cut Netto off. “Who was in the accident?”

“Oh, Netto-kun,” Mariko-sensei said softly. “I wanted to be the first to tell you because it was one of your friends. Ijuuin Enzan has died.”

#

“Netto, I’m so sorry,” Dr. Yuuichirou Hikari said, gently squeezing his son’s shoulders. They were in the lab where Dr. Hikari worked. “The police—and I—checked the control center for the buses out from top to bottom. It was the fault of a worn-out circuit, nothing more.”

“So are you saying Enzan died for nothing?” Netto snapped back. “I know World Three has to be behind this! It doesn’t—it’s not fair!” Netto felt the tears in his eyes spill over as his father embraced him in a hug.

“I know it’s not fair, Netto,” he said gently. “It’s not fair when anyone dies like that, or at such a young age. But there’s nothing you can do to bring him back.”

“Hey!” Rockman suddenly spoke up. “Isn’t that Enzan’s PET?”

Dr. Hikari looked over to the red PET sitting on a table. “Yes, it is.”

Netto backed away from his father to get a closer look. “Then… that means… Papa,” Netto said, turning back to Dr. Hikari. “Does Blues even know that Enzan’s gone?”

“Yes,” Dr. Hikari said heavily. “I believe he does. We tried talking to him once, but he didn’t respond. The PET may be damaged in some way…” he sighed, “but I haven’t got the heart right now to check it out.”

“Netto-kun!” Rockman hissed. “Ask him if we can take the PET!”

“Why?” Netto asked, confused.

Dr. Hikari smiled, hearing Rockman’s request. “You can borrow it for a while, but be sure to bring it back. It’s not my property.”

“Um… all right,” Netto said, still confused.

“Netto-kun! Grab the PET and let’s go!” Rockman told him, still trying to whisper. Netto looked like he was about to argue, but he grabbed the PET and headed out the door.

What did you want it for?” he demanded once they were outside the building.

“I want to talk to Blues,” Rockman replied softly. “I would feel terrible if something happened to you and no one told me.”

“All right,” Netto looked at the PET with doubt. “He might not talk to you either, you know.”

“We have to at least try,” Rockman said.

Nett could not argue against that, and home they went. Once alone, he placed the red PET on his desk and stared at it doubtfully. “Now what?”

“Plug me in, Netto-kun,” Rockman told him. “I’m going to talk to Blues.”

#

“Blues…” Rockman looked horrified. He had known the sketchy details, but he had not imagined this; never this. Rockman placed a careful hand on the shattered navi’s shoulder.

“I tried talking to him,” Blues continued. He didn’t want to do this; talking was the last thing he wanted to do. But once he got started, he found he couldn’t stop. “I called out to him… I tried… I tried to keep him awake. But he didn’t answer me. He—I don’t even know if he could hear me.”

“Blues…”

Rockman looked up at the sound of his operator’s voice. “Netto-kun!”

Netto smiled at the two navis. “Blues, do you really think that Enzan would want you deleted, just because he wasn’t here to be your operator?”

“What other choice do I have?” Blues demanded, shaking off Rockman’s hand and standing up. “What do you think will happen to me now that my operator’s gone? I’ll have a memory wipe and be sold to someone else. I’d rather be deleted than to have that happen.”

“Rockman and I would never let them do that to you!” Netto cried. “Blues, you can’t just give up! There has to be some other way.”

“Maybe…” Rockman mumbled to himself, his thoughts racing.

“Without my operator?” Blues snapped back. “Without… Enzan-sama I’m nothing.” He looked down at his feet. “Just a piece of well-built data.”

“That’s it!” Rockman exclaimed. “That’s the answer!”

“What?” Blues snapped.

“Look, you’re an official net-battler navi, right?” Rockman asked him. When Blues reluctantly nodded, he continued. “That means that Blues is authorized to net-battle by himself, without his operator telling him what to do. Now if only we could find a way to download you completely…” Rockman trailed off, thinking.

“Rockman, what are you getting at?” Netto demanded.

“I’ve had it with you two,” Blues snarled. “Just leave me alone!” He formed his sword and pointed it at Rockman. “Or else.”

Rockman backed up with his hands in the air. “Just hang on a second, Blues. Please? Netto-kun, remember Forte?”

“How could I forget?” Netto said with a grimace.

“He survives on the net without an operator,” Rockman said excitedly. “What if we fixed Blues’ program so he could be an independent program as well?”

“That might just work!” Netto exclaimed.

“You’re forgetting some details,” Blues snapped. “I don’t want to be independent! I just want to be left alone!” He took a threatening step toward Rockman, sword raised.

“Blues…” Netto said softly. “Enzan cared a lot about you. He wouldn’t want you to just be deleted, I know he wouldn’t. If he were here—”

“Well, he’s not, now is he?” Blues demanded, swinging his attention toward Netto. The blade made a swiping motion as he did so, and Rockman hurriedly backed out of the way.

“I know he’s not,” Netto said smoothly. “But think about it. Enzan would want to be able to continue fighting World Three. If you had the ability to fight on the Internet without him, I think that’s what he would prefer. Don’t you?”

“I…” Blues trailed off. In his entire memory, he had never known a moment where Enzan hadn’t been there to tell him what to do. The thought of being on his own was completely alien to him.

_What would your operator want?_

“I’m not guaranteeing that I won’t delete myself if I don’t like it,” Blues warned. “But if you can make the necessary changes without messing around with too much of my program, go ahead and do it.”

Netto cheered. “All right! I’ll start right away. It’s pretty easy, actually, and it won’t take much time.”

“Please hurry, Netto-kun,” Rockman said softly, watching Blues. _Before he changes his mind._

A half an hour later Netto gave a sigh of relief. “There, I’m done. How do you feel, Blues?”

Blues examined himself, running a check on his data and looking his body over. “About the same.”

“But now you have all the necessary data to freely roam the Internet without being connected to anything,” Netto beamed.

“Like Forte,” Rockman put in.

“Only a good Forte,” Netto added. “One that’s on our side.”

“Now all I have left is to be… downloaded?” Blues asked.

Netto nodded.

“Then once I am…” Blues looked at Rockman. “Destroy my PET.”

“What?” Rockman gasped.

“I won’t need it anymore,” Blues shook his head. “I want it destroyed. Please?”

“All right,” Rockman nodded slowly. Something akin to understanding passed between the two navis as they looked at each other. “If that’s what you want.” 

“I’m plugging you in now, Blues,” Netto called. “From my computer you’ll be able to access the Internet.”

Blues nodded. Rockman watched him disappear as he was downloaded away from the PET. Soon Rockman was the only one there.

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE.

Netto sighed at the words flashing across the red PET and transferred Rockman back to his blue one. “I guess that’s it,” he sighed.

“No,” Rockman shook his head. “Not quite.”

#

“Are you sure about this?” Netto said doubtfully. He casually weighted the baseball bat in his hand.

“It’s what he wanted, Netto-kun,” Rockman said softly. “Trust me; Blues won’t be coming back.”

“But to destroy the PET…” Netto eyed the PET where it was sitting against the stone. It seemed like a horrible act to him; destroying something that had once harbored Blues’ program. He raised the bat to rest on his shoulder. “If that’s what he wanted…”

“It is,” Rockman assured him. “If we leave the PET intact, it could be used against Blues in some way. I think this is what Enzan would have wanted too.”

Netto now had the bat raised above his head. “I don’t think I can do it, Rockman,” he confessed.

“You have to,” Rockman replied. “Please. Please destroy the PET.”

Still Netto hesitated, the bat quivering in his hands. “I… I can’t do it!” he yelled.

“Just try!” Rockman yelled back.

Netto swung the baseball bat down. It struck the PET and smashed it into pieces. “There,” he gasped. “That wasn’t so hard, was it Rockman?”

#

Deep in the Internet, a virus was preparing to infect a system another transportation system.

“Not today,” was the last words it heard before it was deleted.

Blues stood where the virus had previously been. Not bad. He had already tracked down three that were up to their dirty tricks, and he had only been at it for an hour.

Enzan, Blues felt, would have been pleased.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last old EXE fic of the lot. Song is "In Dreams" written by Fran Welsh and Howard Shore from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack. My original notes say the second verse of the second line is written in the CD notes as ‘I still hear your name,’ but the singer actually said I can, so I’ll leave it as is. 
> 
> I currently have no plans to write any new EXE fic as that bug has long gone, but I hope people enjoy the old work.


End file.
